ACS hands over Boxer vehicle plant

A 50,000 sq ft military manufacturing facility in Stockport has been completed by the Cheadle Hulme-based contractor for client WFEL.

The Heaton Chapel site will allow WFEL to manufacture a “substantial portion” of the British Army’s required 500 new Boxer mechanised infantry vehicles.

Work on site started in March 2020 and has been completed on time and to budget by ACS.

The full design and build were carried out in collaboration with structural engineers HBL Associates and DPW Architects. LK Group provided geotechnical investigations, FP McCann supplied concrete, and the crushing of existing concrete slab and structures was done by J O’Shea & Sons.

Danny Doohan, ACS Construction Group’s co-founder and operations director, said: “We are proud to have successfully completed and handed over this project to WEFL despite the many challenges posed to our business and the construction industry by the onset of the Covid pandemic.

“Having started out 20 years ago as a groundworks subcontractor, we appreciate that people are the very foundations of our business and our industry, and so we are delighted that this project also helped secure and support local jobs and the regional economy.”

The facility was constructed on a brownfield site within WFEL’s existing premises.

Along with construction of the Boxer MIV manufacturing unit, ACS also constructed a new access road and remodelled the existing car parking space to significantly increase capacity and to house 12 electric vehicle charging points.

ACS said it is currently in advanced discussions with developers and key partners to deliver a variety of small, mid and big-box industrial developments across the UK within the next 12 months.

Andrew Munt, WFEL’s Boxer programme director, described the project as a “significant milestone in the history of military vehicle production in the UK” and that the site would be the UK centre of excellence for Boxer production.

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